New oil and gas discovery near the Troll and Fram field

The objective of well 35/10-8 S was to prove petroleum in Eocene reservoir rocks in the Balder and Sele formations. The secondary exploration targets were to prove petroleum in Eocene reservoir rocks (injectite sandstone) in the Hordaland Group and Upper Cretaceous reservoir rocks in the Jorsalfare Formation (Shetland Group).

The well was not formation-tested, but extensive data acquisition and sampling have been carried out. Due to well integrity challenges, full data acquisition could not be carried out in the lower part of the Rogaland Group and Shetland Group.

Well 35/10-8 S encountered a 3-metre gas column in sandstone with good reservoir quality in the Hordaland Group. In the Balder Formation, the well encountered a 23-metre oil column, with 19 metres in sandstone with good reservoir quality. No gas/oil or oil/water contact was encountered, but the encountered petroleum accumulations in the Balder Formation and Hordaland Group are presumed to be in pressure communication.

The preliminary calculation of the size of the discovery is between 4 and 8 million Sm3 of recoverable oil equivalent. The licensees consider the discovery to be commercial and will assess development solutions in connection with existing infrastructure.

Well 35/10-8 S also encountered a 3-metre thick sandstone layer in the Lista Formation with an indication of oil, and traces of petroleum in sandstone in the Jorsalfare Formation.

This is the first exploration well in production licence 293 B, which was awarded in NSA 2002.

Well 35/10-8 S was drilled to a vertical depth of 2078 metres below sea level. The well was terminated in the Jorsalfare Formation in the Upper Cretaceous.

Water depth is 362 metres. The well was permanently plugged and abandoned.

Well 35/10-8 S was drilled by the Deepsea Stavanger drilling facility, which is now moving on to drill wildcat well 34/9-1 S in production licence 1049 in the northern part of the North Sea, where Equinor Energy AS is the operator.